This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
A conventional “banjo-style” axle housing assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,674,783. The axle housing assembly includes a housing center section and a pair of tubular sleeves. The housing center section comprises two shell members that are butt welded together along their abutting edges. Each of the tubular sleeves is welded to a corresponding lateral end of the housing center section (e.g., via a fillet or ring weld).
While such axle housing assemblies are satisfactory for their intended purpose, axle assemblies and more generally, housing assemblies, are nonetheless susceptible to improvement.